Táin Bó Cuailnge

The Táin is Ireland's heroic fantasy of political intrigue, trickery, deceit, and feats of individual daring on a par with the Iliad. The tale's iconic hero, Cú Chulainn (Hound of Culann), a young, hot-tempered, nearly invincible warrior like Achilles, stands alone against the invading armies of Ireland protecting Ulster and the North. The story, first recorded between the sixth and eighth centuries from oral tales, is a... Read Full Review

The Ulster Cycle is a group of tales associated with the northeast of Ireland and the Ta/in Bo/ Cuailgne is the core of the cycle. The tales are preserved in manuscripts of the twelfth-century and later, but they look back to a pre-Christian culture dominated by warriors who counted their wealth in cows. Raiding your neighbors was one way to acquire more cows. In the Ta/in Bo/ Cuailgne, one group, the Connachta, tries to obtain... Read Full Review

Kinsella does an excellent job of bringing the ancient epic to life. You can almost imagine an old Irish bard reciting the tale in front of a peat fire. Kinsella includes not only the Tain, but stories leading up to the Tain and a brief story about how the Tain was once again learned: "If this your royal rockwere your own self mac Roichhalted here with sagessearching for a roofCuailnge we'd recoverplain and perfect Fergus."... Read Full Review

This is a literary masterpiece to match the 5th(?) century manuscript: action, adventure, deceit, love, death, life, marriage, and hurling! What more could I ask for? Kinsella manages to pull you into the past of Ireland without loosing the flavor and excitement of the original epic. No pansy 19th century Victorian mush here, Mrs. Brown. This is the raw thing, the Irish story of how a hero was created. I grew tired of... Read Full Review

Around the time Jesus walked the Earth, a child-warrior from Ulster, named Setanta, went to a feast. King Conchubar forgot to inform his host, Cullen, that the boy was coming. The host had set his dog, the biggest and meanest in all Ireland out to protect his holdings. The dog had set upon Setanta. The child made short work of the vicious beast. When the party's host complained of the loss of his watchdog, Setanta... Read Full Review